The Owner

About the owner

Hailima Yates, CEO of Luv Mrk, began sharing her poetry and performing in shows under the plays for living genre as a teenager to address common self-esteem issues and social conflicts. Her passion for encouraging self-Love and building unity led her to producing inspirational videos, a documentary, and multi-faceted performances with the help of the community to creatively express how our perceptions affect the way we treat ourselves and those around us.

It was that dedication to promote positive social changes that 12 years ago Ms. Yates began being invited to speak at social clubs, high schools, and university events. She has since become a Transformational Speaker and certified Life Coach presenting for community events, businesses and non-profit organizations for team building workshops, middle school enrichment/elective classes, personal growth retreats, and other related events to build self-awareness in order to treat self and others with respect, kindness, peace, and Luv.

Why I started Luv Mrk

Before I became a person who could wake up ready to live life my way, I fought an emptiness inside and tried to find at least one reason to live each day. Every night I couldn't sleep because I didn't want to see the next day. That battle started at age six and progressed to numbness by 16. And finally the day came when I could no longer rationalize there being a purpose to my existence. Instead each pill I took rationalized why it was time to go. Thankfully what died that day was the infectious thoughts poisoning my mind and suffocating my spirit.

My dismal days came from a combination of things. There was bullying and peer pressure done by others or other times by me, obstacles that life can throw at you, I felt invisible to a majority of my family and dealt with other dysfunctional family dynamics. There were also times I was sad and didn't know why. In addition, I experienced mental and emotional attacks from the outside world who accepted paradigm views opposed to my identities or mindset. I allowed others' opinions of me or indifference to my existence affect the reflection I saw until I saw nothing. I lacked the necessary tools to block off what didn’t benefit me and the power to overcome.

Many of us face personal life setbacks and family issues that can build or hurt our esteem. Furthermore, we collectively have societal connections that can have a lasting impact to our happiness.

"Luv Mrk was created for those of us who see the shattered fragments of our humanity and are ready to gather the best of our pieces and compose a new story overwriting destructive tolerances to have respect, kindness, peace and Luv be expected and accepted."

These connections are created by various social constructs designed to shape our interpretations of ourselves and others. Some of these constructs stain our hearts resulting in us making harmful choices that affect us and others. These constructs range from teachings of standard beauty, habitual racial superiority, traditional sexuality, gender identity norms and models of masculinity and femininity to a professed true religion, conventional patriarchal authority, and customary values of money or life. Our acceptance of damaging constructs being universal can develop internal distress projecting to external destruction and wipes away the opportunity to be our best self.

Today’s news cycle exacerbates these issues while constantly broadcasting story after story about one group against another whether it’s political, racial, economical, religious, or due to sexuality differences, gender oppression and harassment of which some reports are unfortunately fatal incidents. Tension rises on social media as newsfeeds are covered with people posting their perspective, picking sides, instinctively invalidating the experiences of others, and rejecting their opinions, emotions and sometimes their existence. These conflicts stemmed from our differences are tearing us farther apart.

"Guiding people out of the maze of deception where they lost themselves so that they can uncover their own power within and use their internal compass to find their true self"

Luv Mrk was created for those of us who see the shattered fragments of our humanity and are ready to gather the best of our pieces and compose a new story overwriting destructive tolerances to have respect, kindness, peace and Luv be expected and accepted.

My personal experiences resulted in me not loving myself or valuing my life. In addition, my unhealthy self-esteem brought out the worst in me as there were times my words and actions hurt people. I was unfortunately not being a person of love uplifting others. I had to reprogram my mind until I knew I was enough, I mattered and finally reach a place where I loved me. I had to heal my heart so I had love within me to give. I had to reach a place to not allow anyone or any experience take residence in my mind, heart and spirit to take away the best of who I am. Now that I’ve done the hard work, and continue to work on myself, I have the strength and wisdom to not feel lesser than who I am and maintain my power and courage to be my true self. I am not perfect, my life is not perfect, however I now have the empowering tools I need to stay standing during hard times or when I do fall, I have the ability to get back up.

"We treat ourselves and others according to how we see ourselves and others"

I don't want anyone to feel the emptiness I did. That is why I have been a part of causes that build self-love and unity since I was a teenager. And now with my own company, I take what I’ve learned and continue to guide people out of the maze of deception where they lost themselves so that they can uncover their own power within and use their internal compass to find their true self again or even for the first time. While I am guiding people to have self-love, I am also working with others to be mindful of how their words and actions affect others so they may be a positive influence cultivating peaceful and loving environments.

We treat ourselves and others according to how we see ourselves and others, therefore to better our lives and make this world a better place, we have to change our perceptions to change our actions. Let’s acknowledge what there is to love about each other so we make choices where we treat one another with respect, kindness, peace and love.